Possibly the last new year's resolution post of 2019

Did you make New Year's resolutions this year?   Have you noticed that one or more have fizzled? 

Fizzle: "end or fail in a weak or disappointing way."   

If this has happened to you,  you are in good company: the (vast) majority of New Year's resolutions "fail to launch." 

A big reason, not always mentioned in explanations for this phenomenon,  is that when you made that resolution, you were already very busy.  So although it certainly can be done, it is difficult to add a brand-new goal on top of what you are already doing.


BEFORE I CONTINUE, a brief aside for those of you subscribed to this blog in the distant past:  

You may have noticed how I  started this post as if I just blogged last week, instead of reappearing after a FOUR YEAR ABSENCE! I might write another time about how I got back on this wagon, but for now, THANKS for not un-subscribing.


Back to today's message:

Resolutions are generally about doing things that will improve your life in some way. With a little more than 9 months left to go in the year, there is plenty of time to consider alternatives to that end.

One approach, instead of starting something new, is to focus on how to make the life you have now better.

Here are three ideas to get you started thinking about how this might work for you. 

Each of them is a variation on how to pay attention.

ONE.  

Engage fully in every activity you do.

This means everything, whether you are doing something by yourself (e.g., writing) or with others (e.g., meetings, conference calls).

Optimize your engagement by minimizing outside interruptions - phone off and email minimized!

And yes, this includes things you find boring or distasteful or just plain horrible (routine paperwork, email, expense vouchers).

For another angle on this idea read David Burkus's new year's resolution blog, "Why I'm not setting goals in 2019..."

The possible outcomes of this practice can be more satisfying and higher quality outcomes for your work, even work you don't like to do, better personal & working relationships, and more pleasurable "off work" time.

Ideas to take this further, when you are ready:

Look ahead to the coming week, to be aware of what is already planned, and to think about what will make your time better spent.  For example, you might do some advance preparation for a meeting,  or create a plan about how to use an open block of time for high priority work, or even something as mundane as figuring out what will be needed to get to an event on time - so that you can relax and get more out of the experience.

This review will also lead you to make better decisions on the fly.

Do a similar "scan and plan" for the coming day, and in addition to reviewing your schedule, pick up to three tasks related to your current goals that will move that work forward.

Two.

Look for ways to make tiny incremental reductions in your current level of activities, "stuff," and time wasters.

Most of us are over-committed, and cutting back could pay big dividends.

But I'm not recommending a major overhaul.  That can be a great idea, but to be successful, you have to have the commitment, energy, time and a clear plan. 

Instead, I suggest that as you go through your day, notice anything (large or small) that you might consider changing or stopping. 

For example, every morning I read the entirety of two local newspapers (they are short!), and very selectively from two national ones. 

Six months ago, I realized reading the comics page was really not that interesting, and so I tried dropping it.  I did not miss it at all.  In fact, now I can get to the food sections of the national papers more quickly, and spend more time doing something I really enjoy. 

Note that in this example, I did two things:

     First,  I stopped doing something I did not actually enjoy, which created more time for something I DID enjoy.

     Second, I did a time-limited experiment.  If I had discovered that I actually missed the comics, I could have added them back. 

Ideas to take this further, when you are ready:

You'll get more value out of your observations if you record them.  Make this simple:  a note on your phone that you can add to needed.

Three. 

Acknowledge moments of satisfaction, gratitude - or whimsy.

Apparently, our brains are wired to focus more on the bad things that happen than the good.  The idea here is to notice when something good happens, even if it is a fleeting moment. 

Noticing feelings of gratitude, in particular, has been recommended to physicians and academic faculty as a way of reducing burn out risk and the feeling of "busyness" - and if you are both, perhaps you'll reap a double benefit?

Here is a recent experience of mine using this method.

The first 24 hours of this story can be condensed to the familiar "unpleasant travel experience."

The trip began with a very early wake up call ("4 " was the first digit of the departure time), the scheduled Uber not showing up, followed by a flight cancellation, re-booking with a middle seat assignment,  then another delay, and a final arrival late at night, exhausted - with a big presentation on the horizon for the next day.

Usually, I would have ruminated on this dismal narrative, which would result in a frame of mind not conducive to a great presentation.

Instead, I had already picked that day to notice "good things."  

It turned out there were several. 

Although the Uber did not come, I did have a car at the ready, so I was able to drive myself to the airport in plenty of time.  Because of the first delay, I had time to go to an O"Hare bookstore, and discovered a new time management book - Life Admin, by Elizabeth Emens - that turned out to be great. As I got settled into my middle seat, the couple assigned to join me asked "if I would mind" switching to the window.  (Visualize a large smiling emoji!)

So instead of the negative narrative, I was able to replace it with a positive one.

And then, to top it all off, the next morning there was a moment of whimsy:  While getting ready to go to my meeting, I casually flipped the round bar of soap into its dish, and IT LANDED ON END! 

I could not stop laughing - and I even worked the story and photo (tastefully) into my presentation that day.

Ideas to take this further, when you are ready:

This is a repeat: "You'll get more value out of your observations if you record them.  Make this simple:  a single note on your phone that you can add to as needed."

If you want to try this: 

You may have other ideas about how to pay better attention  - feel free to try those.

 Also, the approaches are not mutually exclusive - so you could do all three simultaneously.

However, I'd suggest you begin with one. 

Pick the one that sounds most natural, or most interesting, or most potentially helpful - whatever appeals to you. 

Try it for a week or two, and at the end of the planned trial, ask yourself how it went.  Don't worry if you didn't do it every day.  Focus on any benefits of the times you actually followed through.

Then you are free to switch to one of the others, or add one,  or do some other attention paying practice.

Comments are welcome - post your own ideas on paying attention, and send any other topics you would like to see here.

Want to spend LESS time on email? Give it MORE attention!

Does this sound familiar?   

You wake up at the crack of dawn, reach for your smart-phone from the bedside stand, and scan your email.  You note a few messages that will need immediate attention, and then you are ready to move to the next part of your day: coffee.  While you sip, you take another look at your email, this time deleting some, opening/reading/closing several, and replying to one or two.  A few, based on the subject heading alone, leave you either silently fuming or stressed at what you think you'll have to deal with later.  

Finally you arrive at work, and your first step is to open your email on a bigger screen (tablet, laptop or desktop).  You revisit (for up to the 3rd time) the messages you have previously scanned, plus the new arrivals.  On this pass, you respond to some messages (often the "easy" or urgent ones); flag the ones that "need to be handled TODAY!";  and leave quite a few untouched as you think don't have time to address them, or you don't know what to do, or you don't want to do the thing that needs to be done.  

These two patterns, scanning-but-not-acting-on messages on your phone, and incompletely dealing with messages when on your bigger screen, repeat themselves throughout the day, often while you are in between meetings or patients, or during meetings and conference calls.  

By the end of the day, you still have dozens (or more) of messages in your inbox, and you are sick and tired of email and the fact that it sucks up every free minute of your day.

There is a solution:  give your email more of your undivided attention.

Much has been written about how to best manage email, including folder structure, volume reduction, composition practices,  and various processing strategies.   I have a particular affinity for Merlin Mann's "inbox zero" method of processing.  I've written a short piece about that method here.

However, my point today applies method or structure is used, and whether you process your email all by your self, with the help of an assistant, or by using a filtering app such as SaneBox.   

If you re-read the scenario at the beginning of this post, you'll see the common theme:  looking at messages -- skimming subject lines or opening and closing messages -- without doing anything to move toward completion.

To make matters worse, all this scanning and skimming is often happening while we are trying to do something else:  attend a meeting or conference call, work on a project, and so on.

Put yet another way, rather than ATTENDING to messages, we are AVOIDING messages.  The productivity blogger Craig Jarrow calls this "playing with" our email , as in the way children play with  food - moving it around on the plate, but not eating.

If you are ready for a change, try these guidelines to operationalize the "magic potion" of attention.

• Don't look at any email (either the subject line or the message itself) without taking at least one concrete step toward completing what needs to be done.   Processing even one email through to completion is better than skimming twenty.

• Process email in intermittent batches through out the day, and fully focus on email.  No more email-while-on-a-conference-call!

• A batch can last 5 minutes or an hour, based on the amount of time you have.  The number of batches per day depends on the volume of messages you need to deal with.  

• If you are worried about urgent messages, do "emergency scans" in between batches aimed at looking just for those messages, and ignoring the rest.  You can do this.

• Is your access to email during most of the day on your phone?  It may be difficult to fully process messages, especially long replies and filing.  Use your phone for these two actions only:   DELETE or  answer URGENT messages.  Leave everything else for your fully set up device.

I have been using this method successfully for nearly 10 years, with a daily email volume of  200+ messages per day.   

What do I mean by "success?"  I spend less time processing, the time I spend is more pleasant, and I don't worry about email when I am not processing.

I hope you will give this method a try -and let me know how it goes.

Get more sleep!

Sometimes a trivial, transient personal experience can illuminate a greater truth.

This happened to me last week.  About 3 weeks ago I caught one of the many respiratory viruses going around this winter, and I had the usual 3 day acute illness followed by the usual long full recovery period.

For me, my "recovery" typically involves 2 or 3 weeks of yucky intermittent coughing episodes (and yes, I have been evaluated for asthma...).  This week, I noticed I was fatigued at work, which is unusual for me, and I realized it was due to the sleep disruption from the cough.  I could do my work, but my enthusiasm was limited, and I did not make much progress on discretionary projects.

After making an effort - involving appropriate over the counter drugs - one night to get an extra full night's sleep, I was like a new person the next day.  My feeling was confirmed by my family and co-workers who commented on my upbeat, zippy attitude.

Now let's get to the greater truth.

Many (most?) of us simply don't get enough sleep on a regular basis to either be productive or have a happy life. Even worse, we put ourselves at risk for poor health outcomes and bad work decisions.

Sleep has been in the news a lot in the last few years, and some of you are familiar with the empirical studies looking at the effects of long resident hours.  But there is much more evidence that supports the bad effects of too little sleep. The Economic Times posted a blog today that summarizes many of these.  One not mentioned in that post is the association between sleep deprivation and abrasive behavior on the part of bosses toward their staff.

Really, the problems of not-enough-sleep are pervasive.  A CDC report details prevalence data, and one of the objectives of Healthy People 2020 is to "Increase the proportion of adults who get sufficient sleep."

The National Sleep Foundation recently released (slightly) revised guidelines for the optimal amount of sleep based on age group; these are in line with the most recent NIH guidelines for adults. Take a look at these if you are unsure what you should be aiming for.

If you think your are doing fine with less than the recommended amount, pay attention to how you are faring on the daytime energy and enthusiasm scale - and maybe check with trusted co-workers or family members about your mood - to check your thinking.

Now, its time for bed...  good night!

Goodbye to my faithful old bag, hello to the New Year

I've had this bag for 10 or maybe even 15 years. It was the first one I ever liked, because it was small, black, sturdy and had lots of compartments.

And then it developed a hole.

It was just a small hole at first, but then I noticed that quarters were at risk of falling out.   

Soon thereafter, I noticed the strap was fraying.

My teenage daughters started making increasingly pointed comments about finding a replacement.   ("MOM....!")

And then I started noticing that it was often stuffed to the gills, making it hard to find things, and get them out.  

And most sadly of all, my wonderful new phone - the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 - did not fit easily into its appointed compartment.

What was  my problem?  

Easy.  I never thought I'd find another one I liked.

But I did, and it's actually better.  The new bag is also black and sturdy, but it is larger, lighter, and holds everything in roomy comfort - including my ginormous phone.  And it has even more compartments than the old one.

  

You know what's coming next:  The metaphor!

When a habit, hobby, volunteer activity, work assignment, or even a career, develops signs of no longer working, it's time to consider moving on to something new.  

And what comes next is often better.

Productivity blogger LG Earnest offers a free guide to help you figure this out:

Earnest, LG (2013).   ReclaimYour Time: A Guide to Editing Your Life

As you look ahead to the new year, ask yourself:  What is no longer working for me? 

FAQ: How do I deal with expectations that I will instantly respond to incoming emails?

This post is the first of an intermittent series that will be based on questions I am asked frequently (hence, "FAQ") at workshops and by my coaching clients.  

Today's question (and one of the most common I'm asked):

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Susan,

How do you block off time to not answer emails so that you can do other work, and not be viewed as unresponsive?  I find that if you don’t respond to emails quickly, people get the impression you are not working, ignoring them or something negative along those lines.

Thanks, L

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear L,

Great question.  The answer is complex.

Two truths: 

(1)  Responding to each email the instant it arrives is both impractical and impossible (because you are obviously not always at your email every minute).  

(2) Most important work requires focus. 

Good practice guidelines: 

• Do email in batches rather than one at a time.

• The frequency of batches depends on the type and volume of messages you receive: some people can get away with once a  day, while for others, every hour is required.  Three times a day works for most faculty members and business people.

• When you are doing work that requires focus, you should remove email from your environment during the time you are working.

Despite these truths and good practice guidelines, many workplace cultures have evolved (devolved? ) to the point where an instant response is the expectation, and many of us have developed an understandable fear of delay.

Strategies to modify urgent expectations:

1. Let people you frequently correspond with know you will generally check your email every (one, two or three) hours, and if they need something more quickly, to please call.

2. Consider adding a statement about your usual response time to your email signature block.  You'll have to decide if that is acceptable in your workplace.

3. Only if you must:  Scan your messages every 30 minutes, looking only for urgent messages, based on the subject line.  

You could do this even while doing intensive work, if you follow the Pomodoro method of working for 25 minutes followed by a 5 minute break, and if you stick to dealing only with the urgent messages so that you don't get pulled off course.

4. If you are uncertain your supervisor will approve of these methods, have a talk with that person saying out that you would like to both be responsive AND still do high quality work, and ask if they have other approaches that might work.

And finally, its worth a try...

... to see if you can interest your boss and your colleagues in this topic. Suggest a group discussion about the pros and cons of expecting instant responses, and think about developing new norms for messages sent within the group.   

Best of luck,   Susan

What do you think? If any of you have other suggestions, or responses to the ones I've made, let me know.

And, if you want to pose your own question, just send it along in the comments, or write to me directly at Susan@susanrjohnson.com  .

"Writing is easy.... not !" Simple ideas that can help.

For many of us, the ability to produce quality publications on a regular schedule is critical to our career success and advancement.  But those "drops of blood" moments that characterize writer's block can be an obstacle.

As you go into the "spring semester," you may have writing goals on your list.  I thought a reminder of some strategies to overcome block might be helpful.

I had the opportunity earlier this year to write a short piece (400 words!) on writing for the newsletter of the AAMC's Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS).

Here it is:

"First, writing is hard.  Ernest Hemingway, when asked how to write a novel, famously replied "First you defrost the refrigerator." So don't beat yourself up. Instead, figure out strategies that help, and keep moving.  

               One effective strategy requires a paradigm shift... click here to keep reading.  

The article, titled "Scale Your Writer’s Block" is on page 3. 

When  you go to the newsletter, take a look at the rest of the articles which include:

• Proactively Plan for Promotion: Considerations for Turning Your Clinical and Educational Work into Scholarship

• Use Your Head, Follow Your Heart, and Persevere

• Book Review: Quiet—The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

If you want a bit more detail about the writing strategies, see this slightly longer piece (1800 words) posted in my Article tab.  

Finally, if YOU have strategies for being a productive writer send them my way - I'm always on the look out for new ideas.

A New Year's message follow up: Sam's philosophy of the happy life

This morning in Iowa there was enough ice to delay the start of school by two hours and to convince me to work at home until things cleared up a bit.

I should have used the time to work on an upcoming talk, but instead took the easy way out and, violating my own rule, looked at my email first.

Then, going from bad to worse, I actually read each of the "optional reading" items:  blog posts, newsletters, and so forth, including the "abstracts" of every story contained in my daily message from the New York Times.

And that is how I came across the single most important thing I will read today, this week, and probably for a long time.

I found the obituary of Sam Berns.

After you read the obituary , watch Sam’s recent Tedx  talk.  

Do not watch the video until you are in place where you can weep uncontrollably.

But after the weeping ends, you will realize you have learned the secret to happiness.

Sam's goal was to change the world; each of us can help make that happen. 

Happy new year again.